Some, BUT PERHAPS NOT ALL, of the trees in these shots are mine.

Daytrip to the Mountain Railway

by Gerard Stafleu

'gstafleu'

"It is March 16, 2004. Those who live in a more civilized climate may be surprised by this, but here in Canada we are having a snowstorm. To escape from this, I decided to take a day trip to the Town on the Lake, well known for its mountain railway."
 

Acknowledgements

To start with the obvious, this day trip could never have happened without the mountain train, which is Cyberstorm's Schynige Platte Bahn rolling stock, as well as his cog track. Terry kindly allowed me to test drive it and, for the record, it drove very well .

The scenery gets much of its atmosphere from the trees, and they are all dmdrake originals, each and every one of them. Dave must have writers cramp from signing all these originals.

Last but certainly not least, this layout was started from a Trainz Routes Blank by Smooz: the Olympic. This provided a really good start. It also provided a really big start: the mountain railway is just part of one hillside. And there are a lot of hills!

There is lots of content by others as well, so if you recognize one of your contributions: thanks for making it available.

My train pulled into the Station, opposite the Old Church. The church was proudly flying a reverse Danish flag:

I decided to take a walk though town. Behind the church I found a little shopping area, with an interesting store called "The Happy Hooker." I decided it either sold fishing gear or crocheting materials:

Walking on a bit I found another interesting store: "The Body Shop." The name reminded me of the first store, but I didn't see any fishing gear or crocheting hooks in the window: Beyond the Body Shop I could see the old Town Hall, situated at a cobble stone court yard with stately Beech trees.

Across from cobble stones of the Town Hall was a nice Pub, where I decided to go and have coffee:

Refreshed, I moved on. Crossing the bridge by the rapids I could see my destination peeking through the trees: the Station of the Mountain Railway:

Walking past the station I decided to take a really high jump so that I could get a bird's-eye view of the station:

I walked on to the parking lot and got a better view. I could see the train waiting for me:

I bought a ticket and got onto the train. As the train pulled out of the station, I could see the town across the river: It was a rule that the engine always had to be below the cars, so it was pushing the cars up from behind.

Looking at the mountain, I could see the track snaking upwards:

Soon we left civilization behind us. The train struggled its lonely way up the mountain:

Looking back, I could see the station below us and the town in the distance. For the first time, I also got a good view of the lake. This picture really needed a big jump:

There were quite a few hairpins in the route, maybe the Happy Hooker sold those as well?

When we got higher, we passed some impressive rock formations:

The little red-and-yellow engine didn't have any problems with rock formations, it just kept going:

At last, after a final rock formation, our destination came into view: the upper station of the Mountain Railway:

The station was situated below some more rock formations. It struck me that those rocks must have taken a lot of forming. Just above the station was a hotel and a restaurant:

I walked up to the restaurant, and from the terrace I could see the train at the station below, waiting to start its journey back:

But I was now out of film. That saves you having to look at more rock formations. Foot note! Alas... Gerard never did discover what the Happy Hooker sold! To this day he wonders what might have been... Innocent to last... We haven't the heart to 'disturb his slumber'!

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